Day in pictures: 21 March 2014

A collection of news photographs from around the world over the past 24 hours.

Devotees of the book and television series Game of Thrones attend a fans' event at Barclays Center in New York City.

Fur seals rest at Isla de Lobos, a small island off the coast of Punta del Este, east of Montevideo, Uruguay.

A man holds a bracelet made of melted bullet casings at the blacksmiths' market in Rumbek, South Sudan. The oldest blacksmith at the market has been producing these since the first Sudanese civil war in the 1960s.

Schoolchildren hold hands as they make a human chain around the Parthenon in Athens. About 2,000 children took part in the event organised by the Greek justice ministry to mark the international day against racism.

Afghans gather near a shrine to celebrate Nowruz, the spring equinox and the start of the new year in Kabul. On Thursday night, nine people were killed when gunmen broke into a hotel in the Afghan capital and attacked diners.

A new decree signed by the mayor of Rio de Janeiro fully legalises graffiti on designated city property including columns, grey walls and construction sidings, so long as the property isn't historically designated.

US First Lady Michelle Obama plays table tennis as Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, looks on during a visit to the Beijing Normal School, a school that prepares students to attend university abroad.

Riot police stand guard during a Copa Libertadores football match between Colombia's Deportivo Cali and Argentina's Lanus in Buenos Aires.

A farmer tills a field near a replica of the Eiffel Tower at the Tianducheng development in Hangzhou, China.

Some 20,000 runners took part in the fourth international Jerusalem marathon.